Raging Fire
by Sky Dragon Master
Summary: 5 trainers from Kanto go on their journey to prove themselves as anyone else would. It wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the war going on with Team Rocket. Rated M for language and other concepts that the animegame don't cover. Read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: It should be noted that when I refer to pokemon as a species I use lower case and as a name I use upper case. Also, I used some pretty generic first and last names for my original characters. Take them, you die. Note that I do not own the rights to Pokemon at all. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Neophyte

It was everyone's dream, to rule the Kanto Pokemon league. Millions of trainers across two planets try it, but fail. That hasn't stopped people from trying. Even immigrants from the planet Earth have tried to compete. Pokemon and their diverse powers remained the core of the Kanto culture. Because of that, it has become the dream of the Kantonian youth to wield these amazing creatures.

This particular dream has become the obsession of this one particular youth. His name was Simon Espenson. He was 13, had green hair, and was dressed in a regular t-shirt and jeans. His room was _covered_ with pokemon paraphernalia. It was your typical pokemon fanatic's room. He was sitting on the floor watching the re-run of a past tournament match. He watched it intently.

The crowd was going nuts.

"The match is going down to the wire!" the announcer exclaimed. "Point goes to Miss Prinsen!"

The crowd cheered. Her pokemon, a Raichu, cried loudly in triumph.

Her opponent called of his defeated pokemon and sent forth a Rapidash. The flaming horse pokemon stood on its hind legs and neighed. Its flaming mane showed brilliantly.

"Battle commence!" the ref yelled.

The trainers shouted their orders.

The Raichu stood on its tail and launched a magnificent Thunder attack from its body. The Rapidash dashed out of the way and breathed fire at the electric mouse.

Simon heard a familiar voice outside his bedroom window.

"Ok that's it! I'm tried of throwing rocks. Throw me through his window!"

Simon looked around.

"Heeeeeeey Simon!" the kid said as he came through the open window and landed on Simon's bed.

"J-Jason?!" Simon exclaimed.

"Yep that's me!" Jason said smiling. Jason grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.

Jason was 16 years old. He was taller then Simon. He had brown hair and he was wearing blue jeans and a red, light jacket.

"What'd you do that for?" Simon said standing up.

"Dumbass, you're supposed to get your first pokemon today remember?!" Jason replied.

"Oh….shi…snap!" Simon said smacking his forehead. "How much time do I got?"

Jason looked as watch. "Oh about...20 minutes," he said sarcastically.

Simon quickly put his shoes on, picked up his backpack and ran out the door.

Jason simply laughed, called back the pokemon that threw him through the window, and followed.

Simon sped out the door and ran down to Professor Oak's Laboratory. Jason looked around the empty house. Simon's parents died years ago while he was still young. Simon lived with his older brother Ed until he left on his own journey.

Since there was no one to look after the house, Jason plopped himself on the couch to watch TV.

He picked up the remote off the table and turned the TV on. He started flipping through the channels, watching for about 3 seconds per channel. Soon, he dozed off and fell asleep.

_Outside…_

Simon ran like hell to the esteemed Oak's Laboratory. He leaned against the door, breathing heavily. He pushed the door open and slowly walked inside. Inside, it was bustling with activity. Men and women in lab coats were running around everywhere doing random things. Simon walked around in utter awe. He never saw so many pokemon in one place.

One person was experimenting on the viscosity of various grimers. A pair of women were testing the voltage and power output of various electric pokemon. A young male scientist was trying to use an abra to read the mind of a female colleague for reasons that were obviously not in the interest of science.

Simon walked to the rear of the laboratory to Professor Oak's work table. Oak was working their alone watching a video camera watching two tauros headbutt each other over a miltank.

"Umm…sir?" Simon asked timidly.

The old professor turned to him.

"Oh Simon!" he said smiling. "You're two hours early."

Simon nearly fell over.

"So are you sure you're ready this time?" Oak asked.

"Y…yes sir. I actually studied this time," he said shamefully looking down.

"That's good," he replied sternly. "You failed that exam you need to pass three times already. Normally, kids get their first pokemon at age ten."

"I know sir…I'm just a bad test taker."

Oak patted him on the back. "But you got the highest marks in the class this time."

"I did?"

"You bet. So that's an accomplishment in it of itself. So, moving on to business," he said taking three pokeballs out of their cases. As per what's standard for those who follow our program, trainers start with either the grass type Bulbasaur…" he said typing a bunch of keys on a nearby counsel and a picture of said pokemon appeared on the screen.

"…the fire type Charmander….and the water type Squirtle. So which will it be?"

Simon stared at the screen for a long time. He was debating over in his head what other people have said about them.

"The three pokemon that will be your choices for your first pokemon go in a rock-paper-scissors kind of triangle. Except it is grass-fire-water. Bulbasaur sacrifices speed and mobility for defense and power and is easier to level up. Charmander is a lot less tame but makes up for ferocity in battle. Squirtle has its turtle shell for protection and has been known to handle itself well in the clinch," were the words of his teacher and possibly one of the few times he was actually paying attention.

"What pokemon to pick? Ummm….they're all pretty much well balanced. On their own they're pretty tough if raised well. With one of those pokemon alone you'll have a huge advantage over someone who caught his first pokemon in the wild around town. Just stop stressing about it and just follow your instincts," were the words of his brother.

Simon thought of it a little more then it clicked. He turned to the professor.

"Professor Oak, my brother came to you for his first pokemon right?"

"Yes he sure did."

"Which one did he pick?"

"Umm…a squirtle, why do you ask?"

"Then I'll take a bulbasaur!" he said smiling.

The old professor pressed a few buttons on a keyboard and a pokeball came out of a slot on the table and he handed it to him.

"So why a bulbasaur?" he asked.

"I want to eventually beat my brother, so now I have something to counter his squirtle. All I need to do is catch five other pokemon to counter whichever five pokemon he currently has," he said standing up and clutching the pokeball like a kid would do to a toy it always wanted.

Oak simply laughed. "A good plan Simon but it's not quite that simple. I'm sure his squirtle would be a blastoise by now. And he's a tournament contender too. You have a long way to go before you even have a shot at beating him."

Simon looked down gloomily.

Oak patted him on the back. "But don't worry about that. You have your whole future ahead of you!"

Simon cheered at that.

"Well…time to register you into the official pokemon league," he said turning in his chair and back to the computer.

He typed a few commands on the keyboard and the picture of the three starting pokemon disappeared and up popped a picture of a blank, generic trainer id card. He typed in more commands and Simon's picture appeared in the portrait slot. A random id number was assigned above it. A dollar amount that was set at $0 was changed to $5000. There was another slot for pokemon caught which Oak changed from 0 to 1. He then went to the personal information which filled in automatically. Below that were eight empty spots for badges. He clicked on print. Simon's trainer card came out. It was the same composition and size as a normal driver's license.

Oak held it up to the light. "Let's see…Simon Espenson…age 13…id no. 09462. That's you alright. This will function as identification, a record keeper, and a credit card," he said handing it to him.

Simon pocketed it in his jeans pocket. "Thank you professor!" he exclaimed.

"Not a problem son, now run along."

Simon nodded, attached the pokeball to his belt, and headed back towards the exit.

It looked the same on the way out except the guy with the abra was now on the floor sprawled on his back in a daze. He had a distinct, feminine, red hand mark on his face. His female colleague was walking away with the abra in her arms and with a look of disgust on her face.

Simon scratched his head in thought then shrugged and walked out the door.

_Back at the house…_

Jason was snoring loudly. He muttered something about girls before he accidentally slid off the couch and landed on the floor with a thud. He slowly stood up rubbing his head.

"Ow…" he said reaching for the remote. He was on some news channel and the female reporter was somewhere up in the mountains where it looked like a war was just fought.

"The conflict with the rockets has cost more lives this morning as a small skirmish was fought in the mountains north of Pewter City. Twenty Kantonian soldiers were killed in the battle along with thirty-five wounded. Several pokemon, both wild and those in the military, were among the dead as well."

The camera was about to zoom in on a hurt geodude when Jason turned off the TV.

"Damn…small skirmish my ass," he said setting the remote on a table and walking to the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water and took a sandwich before heading back to the couch. He was halfway through his sandwich when he heard the door being opened.

"Hey Jason!" exclaimed an excited Simon. "I finally got my first pokemon!"

Simon sat on the opposite end of the couch and opened the pokeball. The bulbasaur appeared on the table. It stood on its hind legs and growled happily. Simon knelt on the floor next to the table and poked his pokemon.

"I can't believe it's actually real!" he said excitedly. "Yay for Bulbasaur!"

Jason laughed and adjusted himself in his seat.

"Relax dude. Don't get over excited," he said. He smirked knowing he shouldn't talk, he was no better. He took another bite of his sandwich.

Simon watched bulbasaur get used to the environment.

"You started with a bulbasaur right?"

"I sure did," he replied with his mouth full. He swallowed. "Those were the days."

"So what does it eat?"

"Well it's a grass pokemon. Just let it sit out in the sun and it'll be fine for a few days. They, like most pokemon, will eat berries or any generic pokemon food that you can buy for cheap."

"What attacks should it know?"

"Tackle…growl…that's about it at this stage."

"Well….Bulbasaur…tackle."

Bulbasaur took a step backwards then running tackled what it was looking at, which happened to be Simon. Simon fell backwards and hit the seat of the couch. He rubbed his chest where he was hit.

"He's a hard hitter," he said groaning a little.

Jason finished his sandwich and drank his glass in one shot.

"Of course they are. He weighs 15 lbs."

Simon picked Bulbasaur up.

"How do you know it's a he?" he asked curiously. He lifted it up to see its underside. "I don't see any parts."

"No one's ever seen pokemon mate. No one knows _how_. They know when they're being watched, it's freaky. And trust me, it's a boy."

"Really now?" Simon asked looking Bulbasaur over for any tell tale sign that would give its gender away.

"Trust me on this. You'll be able to tell once you get more experience with pokemon."

Simon sighed. "Oh well. But we'll be the greatest team won't we Bulbasaur?"

Bulbasaur growled in reply.

"We can take on the world!" he said putting it back down on the floor. "Bulbasaur return," he said calling him back to the pokeball. Bulbasaur disappeared in a flash of red light.

"That's the spirit," Jason said laughing leaning back on the couch.

"I'll be able to take on the Elite Four before long."

"Like hell."

"What was that?" Simon asked turning to him.

"You're getting ahead of yourself. All rookies do."

"You'll see. I bet I could take you on."

"Again…like hell."

"I've mastered the strategy. I can beat anyone on the simulator in any situation with whatever disadvantage I have," he said standing up.

"Oh really?" Jason said calmly. "The simulator's glitched, and it doesn't take a lot of factors into effect like state of mind for instance."

"Well still, I'll be able to contend with the best of them. My teacher said I have the best aptitude for battling in all of his classes."

Jason sighed. "If you can think you can take me, meet me outside."

Simon couldn't sit still. "Yes!" he said with excitement before running outside.

Jason laughed and stood. "This'll be quick."

Simon stood in the middle of the dirt road outside his house with his hands hovering by his sides, he was tensed up. Jason calmly walked out and stood several feet away from him. A woman gardening in the house across the street stopped to watch from a distance. A small wind blew around the leaves of the nearby trees and bushes. It was a clear, nice, spring day.

"Are you ready?" Jason asked.

"You bet I am," Simon said reaching for his pokeball.

"Then let's go!" Jason exclaimed reaching for his ball.

"Go Bulbasaur!" Simon said as he threw his ball towards Jason. The ball landed and popped open. Bulbasaur appeared in a white flash and it growled saying it was ready to go. The ball then flew back to Simon.

"I could get used to this," he said in amazement.

Jason smirked. "Go…Venusaur!" he yelled throwing his ball.

The pokemon that appeared had Simon speechless in amazement.

The venusaur roared in anticipation. The sheer size of it intimidated him. Simon saw these in the simulator, they were decent graphics in it of itself on the computer but it was nothing compared to the real thing.

Jason laughed again. "Are you going to sit there with your mouth wide open or are you going to battle?"

Simon gulped. "Y...yeah." he said already having second thoughts about it. But he saw a similar situation before in the simulator so he decided not to back down.

"Then order him already," Jason replied.

Simon thought the battle over in his head. "Tackle!"

Bulbasaur nodded in response and charged forward.

"Vine whip!" Jason ordered.

Two vines came out from under Venusaur's flower. All Simon heard was a whipping motion and then the next thing he knew, Bulbasaur was on its side, unconscious.

Jason called back Venusaur. "No contest."

Simon ran to his Bulbasaur. "What happened?"

He picked it up to see two bruises on its face in the shape of leaves.

Jason sighed. "Let me help."

Jason walked over to him and pulled a yellow, diamond-shaped item out of his pocket.

"What is that?" Simon asked.

"A revive," Jason said calmly. Jason cracked it open in front of Bulbasaur's mouth and a yellow fluid flowed into its mouth. Bulbasaur stirred a little then opened its eyes and growled at Simon softly.

"It's ok!" Simon hugged it tightly.

Jason smiled having been reminded of his first loss and what he felt. "Now you've learned your lesson. Don't get ahead of yourself from now on," he said ruffling Simon's hair.

"Heh…I guess you're right," he said before groaning. "How do you do it? My journey's going to be tough."

Jason patted him on the back. "Don't worry. It WILL be tough. Especially in this day and age with all the shit going on in the world."

Simon sighed. "How does that make me feel any better?"

"Because I'm going with you."

"But…my brother went alone." Simon looked down sadly.

Jason lightly rapped him on the head with the back of his hand. "You're not your brother. Stop trying to emulate him. And you know you won't get anything done without me."

Simon sighed but looked up happily. "I guess you're right."

Jason turned around. "Well I should be. I'm never wrong."

Simon rolled his eyes. "Like when you said Tiffany didn't have a boyfriend?"

Jason nearly tripped over his feet. "That was a different circumstance."

Simon laughed. "Gotcha."

Jason turned back to him. "Well the point is…I have a lot more expertise then you do and a lot more money and I've had a history of saving your ass."

"Heh…that's true. When will we go?"

"First thing tomorrow!"

"Heck yeah! You're the greatest Jason."

Jason scratched behind his head. "You know I am. Now get back in the house, Bulbasaur needs a nap as you can see.

Simon looked down then ran back into the house.

Jason sighed. "This has 'long year' written all over it," he said walking back into the house and locking the door behind him.

The woman who was watching giggled softly and went back to gardening.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: Updating slowly...I don't know how people do it regularly. Maybe because of my procrastination it just seems difficult...oh well. Enjoy. I update these stories more then my profile.

Chapter 2: Flaming Determination

Jason was sitting at the dining room table in Simon's house. He folded his arms on the table and rested his head on it. He glanced at the digital clock on the counter. It flashed from 5:59 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

Jason sighed. "A slacker that wakes up at 5 a.m. Go figure," he said tiredly before yawning. He got up and went to the fridge.

Simon's Bulbasaur, who was let out of the ball, wandered into the kitchen. He leapt into Jason's seat, then leapt back onto the table. Jason came back with can of pop and stood next to the table. Bulbasaur looked up at him earnestly. Jason scratched behind its ears. Bulbasaur looked up, closed its eyes, and growled happily.

"Sorry for kicking your ass little guy," he said sitting down.

Bulbasaur sat down on its belly.

Jason popped his can open and drank some of it. "Why am I going with Simon I have no idea."

Bulbasaur tilted its head in curiosity.

"Eh…maybe it's pity."

Bulbasaur blinked.

"Or maybe it's just an excuse to get back on the road, I gave up on gym challenges two months ago, I wonder if my skills are still sharp," he said leaning back.

Bulbasaur blinked again.

Jason looked up at the ceiling and started to doze off.

At this point, Simon walked in. He was carrying a large thick book with a white cover. He dropped it on the table causing Bulbasaur and Jason to jump three feet in the air, literally and figuratively respectively.

Bulbasaur walked over to it and sniffed it inquisitively.

"Finally found the bastard," Simon said happily.

Jason stood up and walked over to it. "You actually swore?" he asked more amazed at that then the sudden appearance of a book on the table.

"Very funny. My brother mailed this to me in a package and made me swear on my life that I wouldn't open it until I got my first pokemon."

"So what is it?" Jason asked. "It doesn't have a title."

"But it's awesome. It was written by my brother. It has all the information we'll ever need about anything!"

"You're kidding me."

"Nope! I checked it out. It has information 300 types of pokemon and more information on the cities then the AAA."

"You're not supposed to know about the American Auto Association, you're not from Earth."

"Well neither are you."

"True."

Simon excitedly flipped through the pages and stopped at a random page entirely devoted to one pokemon. Simon looked closely at the page.

"Hmmm…Dugtrio…number 51…ground type….2'4"….73.4 lbs……area of distribution: Diglett's Cave...it even has a color picture and everything down to the eating habits and sleeping patterns."

"Damn this stuff is detailed," Jason said looking over his shoulder.

Simon flipped towards the end of the book and came to a detailed map of Pallet Town.

It showed all the key locations that they would ever need to know about, at least in Simon's brother's opinion.

Bulbasaur growled and nudged at Simon. Simon looked down and picked him up.

"Forgot breakfast," he said picking him up and taking him to the kitchen.

Jason took this opportunity to take this opportunity to take a closer look at the book. He saw some really small text at the bottom of the page. It read: Jason you observant bastard I know you're reading this.

Jason twitched and closed the book. He turned around and saw Bulbasaur eating out of the bowl.

"I'll be outside when you're ready," Jason said walking outside.

Simon nodded and looked at his Bulbasaur. "Well…let's take on the world and don't look back."

Bulbasaur growled happily.

Simon smiled and called him back to the pokeball and ran outside. He locked the door behind him and joined Jason outside where they proceeded heading north towards Route 1.

_On route 1…_

A red haired girl was lying on the grass next to a river. She was in khaki shorts and a red t-shirt. She was fifteen. She had five pokeballs attached to her belt. Her growlithe was drinking out of the river. She sat up to look at him.

"Are you done yet?" she asked. Growlithe looked up, barked, then started to drink out of the river again.

The girl sighed then lied back on the grass. "You always take the longest."

She fingered a pendant around her neck. It was a metal circle with a sapphire the size of a grape embedded in the middle. Around it were a bunch of symbols but were illegible in most places due to the wear and tear it received over the years.

Unbeknownst to her, she was being watched.

Two guys were watching her from a tree downwind from the growlithe through binoculars. "The boss is going to like this," one whispered under his breath.

_Meanwhile, a good distance down the road…_

A pidgey flew to the ground. It looked around then pecked at the ground. It looked up again, walked forward and looked around again. It pecked the ground twice then looked towards the tall grass. A pokeball was thrown out of the grass towards the pidgey at lightning speed. It made contact with the pidgey and it was enveloped into the ball in a flash as the ball fell to the ground. The ball twitched on the ground before the locking mechanism kicked in. Simon leapt out of the grass.

"YEAH!" he yelled in excitement punching the air.

Jason stood up out of the grass. "Wow. You're pretty damn lucky. I'm surprised you didn't break its neck you threw the ball so damn fast."

Simon picked up the pokeball, attached it to his belt and laughed. "Well I was the pitcher of my baseball team back then."

Jason laughed and put his hands in his jacket pockets. "And I always hit your pitches out of the park."

"And they'd always land in Mrs. Ketchum's living room and you'd always have to pay for the glass."

Jason twitched. "Don't remind me."

"So how much longer to Viridian City?"

"Hell if I know. Shouldn't be too much farther," Jason said heading down the path.

"So what's in Viridian?" he said following.

"A decent bed."

"Ummmm…"

"Trust me…sooner or later you'll kill for those."

"Figuratively?"

"Nope."

Simon gulped as he followed down the path.

_Back at the river…_

The girl looked up again at her drinking growlithe.

"Oh come on," she said moaning and laying back.

She closed her eyes and listened to the breeze. Growlithe took one last sip from the river and looked around happily. Growlithe caught a scent in the air and its expression changed. The girl's stalkers were now upwind from Growlithe. Growlithe turned around and barked repeatedly at the tree.

"Augh! What is it Growlithe?" she said standing up slowly.

She looked at her pokemon curiously then looked in the direction it was looking.

Two guys jumped out of the tree they looked to be in their late teens. Growlithe growled protectively. The two guys rushed at her and they each grabbed her under the arm and lifted her off the ground.

"Damn it! Let me go!" she yelled kicking.

Growlithe ran up and bit one in the leg. The guy howled in pain and his grip on the girl loosened. She elbowed him in the face sending him backwards then punched the other in the face to get herself free, leaving a black-eye. The one she punched stumbled backwards.

The one that Growlithe bit fell to the ground with the fire dog still holding firm. He kicked Growlithe off his leg then ran haphazardly towards her. The girl quickly spun around and kicked him in the side of the head thanks to her flexibility. He fell to the ground.

The other one clutched his eye.

"Bitch!" he yelled.

The girl adopted a fighting stance.

"3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, you messed with the wrong girl."

"Either way, you still can't deal with this," a deep voice said.

The girl turned around in time to see a flash of a pokeball. A machoke appeared and rushed at her. She didn't see the blow. She felt a harsh blow to the back of her head and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Growlithe growled and leapt at the machoke. Machoke karate chopped in the side sending it flying off into the tall grass. Growlithe growled menacingly at them.

The person who sent out the machoke fired a loud sounding cap gun at Growlithe. It barely missed it but it was enough to send Growlithe running off whimpering.

The two punks laughed picking up the girl.

"What should we do with her, Roger?" one asked.

Roger put away his cap gun. "Take her back to the camp."

_30 minutes later down the road…_

Jason and Simon were still walking down the path. Jason had his hands in his pockets and was staring into empty space in a bored manner. Simon had his pidgey roosted on his shoulder. His hands were around the straps of his backpack. He was looking around earnestly.

"I haven't seen many rattata about," Simon said to break the silence. Jason shrugged.

"Eh…the pokemon haven't been very active today. This happens sometimes. Other times you'll be hiding under rocks to get away from them…only to find that there was something hiding under the rock too."

"Heh...well at least I got Pidgey."

Jason looked over and glanced at the bird calmly roosted on Simon's shoulder.

"Yep. What a catch," he said calmly.

Simon looked up. "What's that over there?" he said pointing ahead of them by a turn in the path.

Jason looked up in surprise. The girl's growlithe was lying on its stomach with a sad look on its face, whimpering slightly.

"Holy crap it's a growlithe," Jason said fumbling through his pockets.

Simon sat down and pulled out his book and flipped through the pages to find the entry for Growlithe. Pidgey flew to his side and looked at the book. Simon looked at it with confusion.

"They only live around Saffron City. What's with this?"

"Hell if I know," Jason said pulling out an Ultra ball. "But it's mine!" he said throwing the ball.

The ball hit Growlithe and simply fell off to the side and plopped open. Growlithe simply ignored it and whimpered more.

Simon stared in confusion.

"Defective ball?" Simon asked.

"It's probably been tagged already."

Simon gave him a confused look.

"The pokemon already has a trainer. The pokeball that its trainer caught it with tagged it and uploaded the data to a server somewhere in space which all pokeballs access. It's a light speed process so my Ultra ball didn't work," Jason said before walking over to it.

Simon put the book away, stood up, and followed Jason. Pidgey flew up onto his shoulder again.

Jason kneeled down in front of Growlithe.

"Come here girl," he said offering his hand in a concerned voice.

Growlithe stood up and rubbed up against Jason.

"How could you tell it was a girl?" Jason asked perplexed.

Jason rubbed Growlithe's back and fed it a bit of generic pokemon food.

"Trust me, I just know."

Growlithe looked in the direction down the path then looked up at Jason.

Jason looked into her eyes. "What is it Growlithe?"

Growlithe nudged Jason and looked down the path and whimpered.

The two boys looked in that direction and saw that it followed the river.

Growlithe ran a little down the path, turned around, then barked at them. Jason and Simon looked at each other, nodded, then walked towards Growlithe.

Growlithe started running down the path and Jason and Simon gave chase. Pidgey decided to fly after its trainer instead.

_At Roger's camp…_

The girl groaned. She felt a harsh pain on the back of her head.

"W-what happened?" she asked opening her eyes. _Why can't I move?_

Roger, his machoke, and his two goons were sitting around a campfire cooking the food they found in her pack. One goon was nursing his leg. The other was holding an ice pack to his black eye. Roger was taller then the rest. He was 20 years old and

She tried to get up. "Damn it that's my lunch!" she yelled but realized she was tied to the tree. The ropes were wrapped around her chest, she was sitting on the ground and her legs were free.

The three punks laughed.

"What a catch!" the one with the black eye said examining the pendant in his hand. "This thing will fetch a couple grand easy!"

"Asshole!" the girl yelled. "That's mine!"

The punks laughed again.

The other goon had her five pokeballs in her lap. He reached for an ultra ball and opened it to find it empty.

"What the fuck?! There's nothing in it," he said.

"Damn it!" the girl yelled again. "What did you do to Growlithe?"

Roger laughed. "We sent the whiny bitch running."

His two goons laughed in response.

"Bastard!" she screamed trying to get free.

The trio laughed some more. Roger heard a barking noise from down the road.

Roger looked up to see four figures running toward them in the distance.

"Growlithe!" the girl yelled happily.

Roger stood up. "I'll deal with these brats. Come on Machoke," Roger said as walked towards the newcomers.

Jason and Simon stopped several feet away from Roger and saw the whole situation. Jason reached for a Great ball in his jacket pocket.

"What the hell's going on here?!" he exclaimed.

Roger laughed. "None of your damn business."

"That girl is tied up!" Simon said defensively as his Pidgey flew to his shoulder again.

"Still none of you punks business. Time to feel my wrath. Machoke!"

Machoke yelled in anticipation as it ran towards Jason. Simon stepped back a little. Growlithe hid behind Jason. Jason didn't flinch. He held the Great ball in front of him.

"Haunter!" he said as the pokeball opened and Haunter appeared.

Roger pointed at the ghost pokemon. "Karate chop!"

Machoke brought his arm down on Haunter which turned out to be fruitless as it went through the ghost. Haunter laughed.

"Shadow punch!" Jason ordered.

Haunter threw a very fast punch at Machoke which connected and sent Machoke backwards on its back.

"This isn't over punk," Roger said clenching his fist.

Machoke stood up and dusted itself off.

Simon took this opportunity to disappear and run towards the tree. The good nursing his leg stood up slowly, putting the girl's pokeballs in a sack..

"Not today you little snot! Mankey!" he yelled as he threw his pokeball at the ground. Mankey appeared in a flash as growled.

Simon pointed at Mankey. "Pidgey, let's go!"

Pidgey flew off his shoulder and to the ground. It opened its wings and chirped.

"You think you can take me punk?! Low kick!"

Mankey ran towards Pidgey and did a sweeping kick at Pidgey's talons. Pidgey flew into the air just in time to avoid the attack.

"Pidgey, gust!" Simon ordered.

Pidgey chirped more and flapped its wings faster, creating a small tornado. Mankey got caught in it and it was lifted off the ground in the swirling vortex. Pidgey kept flapping faster adding fuel to the tornado. Mankey was raised higher and higher. Pidgey then stopped and landed to the ground. The tornado dispersed and the unfortunate Mankey fell to the ground hard, rendering it unconscious.

Simon cheered as he called Pidgey back to its pokeball. The goon called Mankey back and stepped back.

Roger laughed at Jason. "You think you can win with just a ghost?! Machoke, foresight."

Machoke stood on one knee and scratched its head as it observed Haunter and saw its weak points.

Jason sighed. "Well I guess I'll have to end it quickly then. Psychic!"

Haunter raised both its hands and laughed menacingly as a flash of psychic energy was shot at Machoke. Machoke fell over backwards in a daze before Roger called it back and reached for another pokeball.

The goon with the black eye stood up.

"God damn it man. You always sucked. Go Krabby," he said throwing his pokeball to the ground and Krabby appeared in a flash. It chomped its pincers to show that it was ready.

Simon smiled. "Too easy. Go Bulbasaur," he said calling it out. Bulbasaur appeared and growled excitedly.

The goon pointed at Bulbasaur. "Krabby, vicegrip attack."

Krabby walked towards Bulbasaur.

Simon pointed at Krabby. "Vine whip."

Two vines came out from under its bulb and flew out and whipped Krabby across the face knocking it over.

"Damn it!" the goon yelled as he called his pokemon back.

Roger swore under his breath. "No way will a punk like you beat me. Go Weezing!"

Weezing appeared in a flash and bellowed a little smoke as it hovered in the air.

Jason laughed. "Way to easy. Psychic."

Haunter repeated the attack and it was obviously too much for Weezing to handle as it fell to the ground in a daze. Jason called Haunter back.

Roger swore and called Weezing back. "Damn it! Let's scram guys."

Roger broke into a run down the path. The two goons soon followed, running off with the sack. Simon ran towards the girl, pulled out a Swiss army knife to cut the ropes off.

Jason took a few steps forward. "Oh no you don't," he said reaching for a pokeball.

"Arbok!" he yelled as he threw a pokeball to the ground. The snake pokemon appeared in a flash and hissed.

"Get him," Jason ordered calmly.

Arbok slithered across the ground faster then what one would expect from a snake and wrapped around the goon with the sack's hurting leg causing him to trip and drop the sack. Arbok took the sack in its jaw, let the goon go and slithered back to Jason.

The goon stood up and ran again with a slight limp this time.

Simon finished cutting the girl free and before she could get up, Growlithe ran over to her and licked her face happily causing her to giggle and hug it tightly in both happiness and relief.

Jason picked up the sack and saw the pokeballs inside. He walked over to them. Simon and the girl stood up. The girl took the sack in one hand while holding Growlithe in the other hand.

"I can't thank you two enough," she said happily.

Simon smiled. "What else would we have done?"

Jason scratched behind his head. "It was nothing really."

Growlithe barked happily and wagged its tail as it panted.

"I'm Nina Eldier," the girl said. "I'm from Cinnabar Island."

"I'm Jason Connolly," Jason replied. "I'm from Saffron."

Simon stood next to Jason. "I'm Simon Espenson. I'm from Pallet Town."

"Well it's nice to meet you both," Nina said smiling feeling her neck. She sighed.

"They took my pendant."

Arbok slithered up to Jason and he put his hand on its head. "I can find em."

Nina sighed again. "It's no big deal. I found it in the sand on the Seafoam Islands. I could ask a jeweler to make another one."

Jason called back Arbok. "What a shame. So what will you do now?"

Nina called Growlithe back. "I'm still on my gym challenge journey. I want to enter the indigo tournament."

"I watched re-runs of last year's tournament last night!" Simon said happily. "My brother lost in the 5th round though," he added sadly.

"That makes him one of the top 16 in Kanto," Nina said happily.

Jason patted him on the back. "Don't fret too much."

"Guess you're right," Simon said happily.

"Why don't you come with us Nina?" Jason asked.

"Me? Why?" she asked curiously.

"Simon and I are both shooting for the same thing. I have a couple gyms to knock off since I only have five badges. Simon literally got his first pokemon yesterday."

"That's cool. I only have 3 so far. And I won't be attacked like that again if I'm in a group. I'll be happy to come with."

"Yay!" Simon exclaimed.

Jason offered his hand and Nina shook it.

"Welcome aboard Nina," Jason said.

Simon pointed north up the path. "Not to far from town, let's go! I can't wait."

Simon sprinted down the path.

Jason let go of Nina's hand. "Wait up Simon!" he said before running after him.

Nina simply laughed and gave chase.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Update delayed due to procrastination. Once I get on a roll I'll start updating more, I want to see how much I can update both stories before school starts. (Which I'll be using study hall to write like I did for the start of Wrath of Kombat) Enjoy.

Chapter 3: Heart of a Dragon

Viridian City was a small for a city. Not much to see. But it was known as "the crossroads to the pokemon league" so it still had visitors from all over Kanto. Jason, Nina, and Simon stood at the city limits.

"Well here we are, Viridian," Jason commented.

"I thought I'd never see this city again," Nina said.

"Wow this is neat," Simon said happily.

"Nothing special really, just a stopping point," Jason added.

"Wait till you see Cinnabar," Nina said walking forward.

"Well off to the Pokemon Center," Jason said following.

Simon followed and looked around curiously.

"Don't act like you never left town before," Jason commented.

"Well I never have."

"Oh yeah…forgot." Jason scratched behind his head.

Almost immediately they came upon the Viridian City Pokemon Center. Nina broke into a sprint and ran through the doorway as the door automatically slid open for her. Jason and Simon walked through at a casual pace before the door closed on them.

The front lobby of the pokemon center was a huge tiled room with halogen lights in the ceiling. There were two of the small, generic pokemon healing machines in the center of the room surrounded by a red counter. Two young nurses were at the machines taking care of whoever brought their pokemon to them, one of which was busy with a visiting trainers check-up. To the left was the lounge which was filled with two or three people talking and the occasional pokemon that was left to roam around. By the lounge there was a staircase going to the upper levels which was used as a hotel for trainers. In the rear of the pokemon center were two double doors which led to the emergency room. Off to the right was a stairway leading downstairs which was mostly used by Pokemon Center staff.

To the right of the staircase were the restrooms and a small arcade for the occasional 5 year old that came along. To the left of the staircase, against the wall, was a row of computer terminals that stretched to the back wall which 4 or 5 were occupied with trainers.

Nina walked up to the free nurse at the counter, who smiled at her, and placed her pokeballs lightly on the counter which composed of 3 Ultra balls, 1 Great ball, and one regular pokeball. The nurse placed them all on the machine.

"This will be a five minute wait," the nurse said looking at the display on the machine.

"I can wait," Nina replied leaning on the counter to the side. Jason shrugged and walked off towards the computers. Simon, who was enveloped in reading the sign displaying the rules, snapped out of it when he noticed that he walked off. He decided to follow him to the terminals.

Jason sat down at a computer and scooted in. Simon sat at a chair next to him and watched intently.

"So what is this?" Simon asked curiously.

"The pokemon center pc system," Jason said pulling his trainer card out of his jacket pocket and putting it in a slot on the computer. His ID flashed up followed by an option menu.

"So what is it used for?"

"Pokemon storage system is the main feature, you can also use it to surf the internet and such." Jason clicked on his pc storage subscription and entered his password.

"Pokemon storage? Like that Bill guy I heard about?"

"Nah, I subscribed with someone else."

"Who?"

"You'll see. I might as well sign you up for it too."

A video feed opened on the screen showing a woman in a white lab coat with raven hair in a pony tail holding a vaporeon in her lap. She smiled when she noticed the feed come up.

"Hello Jason," the woman said.

"Hello Alex," Jason replied.

"What do you need today?" she asked petting her vaporeon.

"I'm just come to check up on my team," Jason replied.

Alex typed a few commands on her keyboard and a display popped up on the screen showing icons for individual pokemon that Jason stored there.

"Thanks a lot," Jason said clicking around.

Simon looked closely at the screen. "You have a lot of pokemon."

"Yep, I spent a lot of time in the safari zone."

"How many species did you get?"

"Every single one."

"Even Chansey?"

Jason thought about it for a moment then put his head down. "Except Chansey."

"Who's this?" Alex asked curiously.

Jason looked up. "Oh, this is Simon Espenson. Simon, this is Alexandra Frost. She started her own storage facility in Lavender Town about two years go."

"It's nice to meet you," Alex said waving, "Ed's brother right?"

"Uh…yeah," Simon responded.

Alex giggled.

Jason closed the display screen for his storage boxes.

"Well I'm finished," he said. He reached behind his head. "Hand me your trainer card."

Simon handed it to him.

"I'll talk to you later Alex," Jason said.

"One more thing Jason," Alex said.

"Shoot."

Alex took a deep breath and closed her eyes then looked back at the screen.

"If I catch your Tauros trying to screw my favorite Miltank again I'll neuter both of you!" she shouted. Her vaporeon ran away to another part of the room.

Simon stepped out of view of the webcam and laughed silently.

Jason scratched behind his head. "So your other miltank are ok then?"

"You know what I mean," she sighed.

Jason sighed. "Well keep in the holding pen for now."

"I already did. Take care guys," she said happily before signing off.

Jason pulled his own card out of the slot and the computer logged off. He put Simon's in the slot and got out of the seat.

"Type your password in," he said leaning against the wall.

"Password? I don't have a password," Simon replied sitting down.

"Type in anything, and remember it. It will be your password now."

Simon typed in an 18 character password as Jason looked away.

A screen popped up showing the storage boxes similar to Jason's except these were empty.

Jason looked at the screen. "It worked. Now after your sixth pokemon your pokeballs will automatically teleport to Frost's Pokemon Storage Facility."

"That's neat. Why after my sixth?" he said signing out.

"A trainer can only have six pokemon on him legally."

"That bites," Simon said standing up.

"Not really, I'd like to see you manage more then six pokemon at once."

Simon let out his pidgey which flew to his shoulder. "Good point."

Nina materialized out of nowhere and plopped herself in the chair between them and put her card in the slot to sign in.

"Hey guys," she said cheerfully.

"So how's Growlithe?" Jason asked slightly surprised by her sudden appearance.

"She's back to the full health like the rest of them," she said not looking away from the screen. She pulled a small shield-shaped device out of her shorts pocket and plugged it into the USB port of the computer. A map of Viridian City opened up and several dots were flashing around the map including one at the pokemon center.

"What is that?" Simon asked looking at the screen curiously.

"It's a Vs. Seeker," she said pointing at the dot at the pokemon center with her cursor and clicking on it.

"A what?" Jason asked. "I never heard of that."

A small profile of Nina popped up.

"A Vs. Seeker. You can buy them online. It's a device that allows you to find other trainers seeking a battle or trade or whatever," she said hovering over the other dots and clicked a random one on the east side of town.

Another small profile showing another girl popped up. It showed that she was 17. In the portrait, she had long brown hair and was fair skinned.

Simon looked closer. "Stephanie Prinsen? Why does that name sound familiar?"

Jason shrugged.

"Who knows?" Nina said, "But I'll check her out." She clicked on the contact button on the profile.

A window opened up much similar which functioned as an instant messenger. Nina felt through her hair then went to typing.

"Are you open for a battle?" she typed.

After thirty seconds it showed that Stephanie was typing a message.

"Yes I am. Meet me in the park north of the pokemon mart," her message said.

"Gotcha, I'll be there," Nina replied before signing off.

"Well this I got to see," Jason as Nina stood up.

"Just watch me. I need to get a real battle in, I've been relaxing on Cinnabar for too long," she heading for the door.

Jason followed. "A great way to get back in shape." _A royal ass kicking, maybe you should have looked closer at the profile._

Simon followed as well. "Where have I heard that name before?!" Simon exclaimed.

The trio walked out the automatic door and headed towards their destination.

_10 minutes later…_

Stephanie was waiting on a bench with her jigglypuff in her lap. Jigglypuff was bouncing around happily. She was in an ash colored tank top and matching pants built for mobility. She was slender in build and her hair went halfway down her back. Her Vs. seeker at her belt vibrated. She picked it up and popped it open then closed it looking to her right.

Nina and the guys were walking towards them. Stephanie waved towards them and they made their way to her.

"You must be Nina," she said standing up holding the jigglypuff in her arms.

Nina stopped in front of her. "Yep, is 5 vs. 5 ok?" she said observing the 6 pokeballs at Stephanie's waist.

"It's fine by me," Stephanie said smiling.

Simon and Jason sat at the bench.

"You can do it Nina!" Simon said happily.

Jason leaned back and relaxed. _Good luck._

"Well Jigglypuff," Stephanie said. "You have to sit this one out," she said opening her arms.

Jigglypuff puffed its body to float over to the bench. It landed in between Simon and Jason. It sat against the bench and watched the scene with a happy look on its face.

Nina pulled an Ultra ball from her belt. "Ready?"

Stephanie pulled a pokeball from her belt. "You bet."

"You're up Growlithe," she said taking a step back and sending it forth.

Growlithe appeared in a flash and barked to show that it was ready.

"Go Dratini," Stephanie said as she tossed her pokeball forward.

The little dragon pokemon appeared and cried cutely to show that it was ready. It looked like any other Dratini…except it was pink where it should be blue.

Jason sat up more. "No way."

Simon whipped out his book again and flipped through the pages.

"I though they were supposed to be blue," he said confusedly.

Jigglypuff simply cheered.

"Super-recessive trait," Stephanie said. "Dratini, wrap attack."

Dratini darted forward on the ground and tried to wrap its body around Growlithe's waist.

"Growlithe bite!" Nina ordered.

Growlithe ran forward and bit Dratini across the belly before it could get its body around the fire dog.

Dratini cried in pain. As Growlithe let go Dratini slithered away.

"Dratini, twister!"

Dratini stood up all the way and cried as a tornado, harsher then Pidgey's gust appeared and was directed at Growlithe.

Growlithe was caught in the twister and fell to the ground. The damage from the fall and what it got from the wind's buffeting at it was too much for Growlithe and it couldn't get back up even though it tried.

Nina called Growlithe back to the ball.

"Go Charmeleon!" she called as she threw a pokeball.

The flaming lizard pokemon growled menacingly as it came out.

"Charmeleon, ember!" she ordered.

Charmeleon growled and shot a few small flaming bursts from its mouth.

The attack was on target and it caused Dratini to cringe, leaving a few burn marks on its body.

"Dratini, slam attack."

Dratini slithered to Charmeleon and slammed its body into Charmeleon causing it to step backwards.

"Follow through with dragon rage!" Stephanie called.

Dratini unleashed a yellowish fire out of its mouth and Charmeleon square in the chest causing it to fall on its belly.

"Damn it!" she said calling Charmeleon back. She took a great ball from her belt.

Jigglypuff cheered again. It turned to Simon for a high five but pouted when it was obvious he wasn't paying attention. It turned to Jason for a high five. Jason looked at it held out his hand. Jigglypuff leapt up and hit it then sat back down with a happy look on its face.

"Go Vulpix!" she called as she threw it to the ground.

The fox pokemon moaned as it came out and looked at Dratini vacantly.

"Another fire pokemon?" Simon asked.

"Fire is the only way to go, Vulpix, quick attack!" Nina ordered.

Vulpix dashed at Dratini at blazing speed and hit dead on, taking it out.

Stephanie called it back.

"Good job, you were good training for her," she said picking up a different pokeball. "Now for the real fun to begin, go Butterfree."

She threw her pokeball forward and Butterfree appeared in midair and cried as it came out.

"Butterfree, psybeam!"

Butterfree shot a beam out of its small hands and it hit Vulpix dead on, knocking it out.

Nina called it back and growled in frustration pulling out another ultra ball.

"Go Ponyta!" she called as she opened it.

Ponyta neighed as it came out.

"Ponyta, flamethrower attack!"

Ponyta breathed a stream fire at Butterfree and it landed, scorching it. It was too much for Butterfree and it was called back before it fell to the ground.

"Gotta love TM's," Nina said happily.

"Really now?" Stephanie said reaching for another pokeball. "Go Raichu!" she called as she threw another pokeball.

Raichu appeared and stood on its tailed and cried happily then adopted a ready stance.

"Ponyta, flamethrower!" she ordered.

"Thunderbolt!" Stephanie called.

Raichu stood up and let loose electricity from its body which hit the flaming horse pokemon, taking it out.

Nina called her pokemon back. She took out her last ultra ball.

"Go Magmar!" she called as she opened it.

Magmar appeared in a flash and adopted a ready stance.

"Raichu, thunderpunch!" Stephanie ordered.

Raichu's fist simmered with electricity. It ran at Magmar in a flash and punched it square in the chest taking out Magmar as easily as it took out Ponyta.

Raichu cried in triumph as Stephanie called it back.

"Good match Nina!" she said offering her hand.

Nina walked over and shook it. "Thanks," she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice as she called Magmar back. "Now I have to go back to the pokemon center," she added in disdain.

Stephanie opened her arms and Jigglypuff floated back into her arms.

"Well I have to go there too," she said rubbing her pokemon's head.

"I haven't gotten owned like that since I faced my uncle," Nina replied.

"Now I remember!" Simon exclaimed with all eyes turning to him. "You're Stephanie Prinsen. You fought in last year's Indigo Tournament and lost in the 3rd round."

Stephanie blinked. "Yes that's true. I didn't know I was that famous."

"Of course I knew, my brother was in that tourney too, I practically memorized the bracket."

"Why didn't you tell me that she was this good?" Nina asked him.

"She had 9 badges on her vs. seeker profile. You didn't notice?" Jason asked sarcastically.

"Nine?" Simon and Nina said in unison.

"I used to be a Blackthorn City Gym trainer for two years in Johto before I came back here," Stephanie added.

"So what are you doing here?" Nina asked. "You're one of the top 64 in the Kanto region. You should be competing in off season tournaments or something."

"44th to be exact," she added calmly, "I'm just here to visit my relatives in Viridian. I have to visit my sister in Cerulean too."

"Well we're going in that direction," Jason added standing up. "We're all still on our gym challenges."

"Well I guess I can tag along for a while," Stephanie said happily.

"So where are we going next?" Simon asked.

"A trip to the pokemon center then we head north out of town to Viridian Forest. We'll stop at the checkpoint when we turn in for the night."

"Sounds like a plan," Nina said in unison. "Race you there," she said running off. The other three laughed and gave chase.

_Later that night…_

Roger and his goons were in a dark alley facing the wall, kneeling on the ground, trembling like mad with their hands up. They were sweating feverishly. They were being held at gunpoint by four men in black uniforms with a big red R on their chests and matching black caps holding futuristic looking assault rifles. Another man in a similar uniform was pacing around the space between the two groups. He had a blue marking on his left shoulder signifying a rank of some sort.

He pulled out the necklace the goon's stole from Nina and leaned down besides Roger about 3 inches from his ear.

"Where did you find this?" he said dangling it front of his face.

"I-I-I don't know," was all Roger could say.

The Rocket stepped back and brought his foot heavily on Roger's foot, a small crunching sound could be heard. Roger screamed in pain as the others cowered more.

"Wrong answer!" the Rocket yelled.

"We-we got it from a girl we mugged on Route 1," one goon spoke up.

"It was some red headed brat. Two other kids jumped us and took her back from us!" the other yelled.

"Oh?" the rocket asked. "And where did these "brats" go?"

"I saw her vs. seeker leave town about 6 o clock today," one goon said.

The rocket walked behind his underlings holding the weapons.

"Really now?" he asked. "I guess that's all we need to know at this point,"

"You mean you'll let us go?" Roger asked hopefully.

The rocket sneered. "Not really," he said. "Kill them."

"No wait you can't do th..." one goon said but was soon drowned out by the gun fire from the four rifles.

Roger and is gang were lit up by the bullets and they fell to the ground with their clothes full of holes and soaked red, leaving a puddle of blood on the ground by each body.

The rockets were long gone before the police got there to investigate.


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: I'm sorry this took so long. I had a TON of distractions which included: my social life, school work, my discovery of the Halo series, pokemon diamond and pearl (I'm practically invincible), and my own procrastination. Also, I have learned HTML tags in web page design class so now, all my documents will have horizontal lines in them, wonderful. (Now my pages won't look like one big stream of text) Anyways enjoy and check my profile for when I plan on updating the fanfics.

* * *

Chapter 4: Chaos 

Jason was sitting against the wall adjacent to the bunk he was in. He was sitting on the upper bunk with is back against the wall and legs over the edge. He yawned and checked his watch. It read 6:01.

"God damn, waking up early's a bitch," he said under his breath.

He looked across at the other bunk in the room and saw Simon on the bottom bunk and Nina on the top one, both asleep.

Stephanie walked in from the bathroom, fully dressed save for her shoes, with a towel around her neck.

"Bathroom's open," she said out loud to wake the other two up.

Nina and Simon stirred in their sleep. The latter of which awoke first.

"Wha?" Simon asked in a daze.

"Get your ass ready we've been up for an hour," Jason said laughing.

Nina moaned when she awoke. "Too early."

"You're the one that wanted to get to Pewter City before sunset," Stephanie said calmly, sitting on her bunk below Jason's.

She adjusted her hair and slipped into some small heeled sandals. Simon leapt out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

Nina sighed and turned in the bed. "Whatever. So who's the Gym Leader and type?" she asked everyone.

Simon left the door open. "According to the book it's a guy named Brock," he said before starting to brush his teeth.

"What's the type?" Nina asked.

"Rock." Stephanie commented.

Nina put a hand on her forehead. "Shit. This is going to be tough for me."

"So who among us has the Boulder Badge?" Stephanie asked.

Nina shook her head. Jason shrugged. Simon put his toothbrush away.

"We don't either," they said in unison.

"Well that's just great," Nina said sarcastically. "I'm the only one here without a grass type."

Stephanie smiled. "You'll manage."

At this Simon shut the door to continue the rest of his daily routine.

Jason looked out the window to the view of the Viridian Forest, he saw a pidgeot fly by and he sighed.

"I hate these checkpoints. Sooner we get out of here the better," Jason commented.

"Amen," Stephanie and Nina said in unison.

"Yeah! They have no hot water in the showers!" Simon yelled from the bathroom to which everyone laughed.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Goldenrod City…_

A trainer in his late teens stepped out of the front entrance of Goldenrod International Airport. He had jet black hair. He was wearing jeans, normal shoes, and a white basketball jersey with a blue number 23 on the back and front showing off his favorite player off all time. He was carrying a small backpack with him. He had six pokeballs at his belt. He sighed and walked down the road towards downtown Goldenrod.

He stopped at a hot dog stand near the famous Radio Tower. He ordered two hotdogs and swiped his trainer card as anyone would do a credit card. He put one in his backpack and started munching on one while listening to the radio the vendor had on his stand.

"And now welcome back to the show. I'm DJ Reed and here to give you this week's lucky numbers at the top of the hour," the radio stated.

The trainer checked his watch. "Top of the hour?" he asked himself.

He looked around. "Shit!" he said before finishing the hot dog.

"This week's lucky number is…." DJ Reed said in a happy dramatic tone, "One…four…three…six six. I repeat: 14366," the radio stated as the trainer was running down the street.

He broke a hard left bumping into a person accidentally and running into the Magnet Train Station. He quickly paid the person at the gate and he was the last one aboard the train. He sat at the back of the train and sighed.

"That was close," he said setting his backpack on the ground next to him.

"Wait a minute…" he pulled out his trainer card and looked at the id number.

"Damn it! I was 14366!" he said in disdain as the train went on its silent path to Saffron City.

* * *

_Back at the checkpoint…_

Jason, Stephanie, and Nina were waiting outside the north end of the checkpoint which was dense with trees. Nina growled a bit then looked back into the checkpoint building's entrance.

"Simon, hurry up!" Nina yelled.

Simon was soon running out of the building as fast as he could. He caught up to the trio and was hunched over breathing heavily.

Stephanie sighed and walked towards the forest.

"Keep track of your Bulbasaur next time," she said sarcastically.

Simon followed.

"It's not my fault it has an absurd obsession with flashlights," Simon said defensively as he walked.

Jason and Nina looked at each other and laughed a little before heading after them.

Later on, they were deep in the Viridian Forest. Stephanie, Jason, and Nina were closer together just taking in the sights. Simon strayed from the group at random times to stalk a pokemon he might have saw only to come back after it was either: "the wind blowing in the leaves" or "it ran as soon as it heard me".

Simon sighed as he soon gave up on a weedle that ran into a tree trunk. Jason patted his back to help him keep his hopes up. Nina decided to break the silence.

"Hey Stephanie, how'd you defeat Pewter Gym?" Nina asked curiously.

"My Bellossom swept him easily," she said tapping the top of a pokeball at her waist.

"Damn, everyone uses a freaking grass type," Nina said in frustration. She pulled out a case of CD's in her pack and flipped through them.

"What are those?" Jason asked curiously, looking over her shoulder.

"Technical Machines," she replied not looking up. "I need to be ready for Brock."

"How do those work?"

"Well you take one of these and…" she said before she was interrupted by the sound of Simon shouting excitedly.

Simon whipped a pokeball out of his pocket and pointed up at a tree.

"Finally!" he exclaimed before tossing it at a branch.

A caterpie who was crawling upside down on the branch looked at the group curiously before Simon threw the pokeball at it. It was enveloped into the ball before it fell to the ground. The ball twitched once before the locking mechanism kicked in.

Simon ran to the ball and picked it up.

"That's #3!" he exclaimed.

Stephanie laughed a little.

The group walked together through the forest, moving through tall grass, maneuvering around trees, and stopping for the occasional break.

As they were picking themselves up from a lunch break, Nina paused because she saw something flash in the bushes. She walked forward to investigate but she stopped when Jason told her to catch up with the rest of the group which was already walking off.

As she ran to catch up, the man in the bush put away his hi-tech binoculars. He taped his wristwatch and held it to his mouth.

"Sir, they're heading northwest towards your position," he whispered into it.

"Excellent," a voice out of the watch replied, "regroup, we'll take them in an hour."

* * *

_Back in Saffron…_

The trainer from the magnet train stepped off from the station. He bought a soda from a vending machine and casually walked down the street.

He popped open his drink and took a sip. He discreetly passed the Pokemon Trainer Fan Club building and continued on his way. He drank some more before stopping near a newspaper stand.

His cell phone in his pants pocket started to buzz. He pulled it out and flipped it open. He recognized the number and pressed a button and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" the trainer asked.

"Edward?" the female voice on the other end responded.

"Mrs. Ketchum? Glad to hear from you," Ed said happily.

"Same for you dear, I'm sorry for not calling sooner, I've been busy all week."

"No, no, it's fine."

"Well I did try to call the last two days and I couldn't get a signal."

"Yesterday I was on an airplane to Johto so the airwaves were blocked. The day before that I was in another region, do you get long distance?"

"Not outgoing. Free incoming."

"Well there you go," he said leaning against a wall.

"Good, I was worried that you got caught up in the media war over there."

"I steered clear of that. I gave up after the 5th gym challenge and flew back after the new champion over there was declared."

"Why was that?"

"The gym's close for the championship tournament. It's true for all regions."

"Oh that reminds me. Simon got his first pokemon the other day."

"Well that's cool. What did he get?"

"An adorable little bulbasaur."

"That'll be interesting," Ed said, starting to walk in the direction he was going.

"Simon was elated. He and Jason left Pallet Town yesterday morning."

"So Jason tagged along, that'll be good for both of them." Ed started to look at the magazine covers at the stand.

"Mmmhm. I can't wait to hear their stories."

"They'll do fine."

Ed looked down at the newspapers. The Kanto Tribune was on top and the headline caught Ed's attention.

It read: THREE TRAINERS FOUND DEAD IN VIRIDIAN CITY ALLEY.

Three pokemon trainers were found dead late last night after a 911 call from a woman living near the scene of the crime after she heard some gunshots. The three people were found in pools of their own blood and all of them suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The attacker(s) remain at large. The pokemon were unharmed and remained in their pokeballs, unaware of the situation at hand. They were sent to an orphanage in Lavender Town. The mayor of Viridian City has this to say on the story….

"Shit," Edward muttered under his breath.

"Something wrong?" Mrs. Ketchum said on the other end.

"…I'll get back to you later, something's come up," he said before hanging up.

Ed put his cell away and broke into a sprint down the street, pulling a Poke Ball off of his belt.

_Please be alright Simon._

"SALAMENCE!" he yelled tossing the ball, gaining the attention from onlookers.

The ball opened and released the dragon pokemon in a flash and Salamence roared.

Edward leapt onto its back. "Viridian, now."

Salamence cried in assurance and beat its mighty wings as it took off into the sky.

* * *

_In the Viridian Forest…_

Jason, Stephanie, Nina, and Simon were about in the middle of the forest. It was the thickest, darkest part of the forest. Inhabited by bugs, pokemon and otherwise.

Nina sighed.

"This is depressing. How much longer?" Nina protested, trudging through the brush.

"There's a clearing up ahead," Jason commented.

"How could you tell?" Simon asked, his Caterpie roosted on his shoulder.

"I'm just that awesome," Jason replied.

Stephanie was the first to reach the clearing. She took a deep breath of fresh air and sighed happily.

The others soon came out of the wall of trees.

"So nice!" Nina said running into the large clearing and spinning around to take in the sun.

Simon looked around curiously.

Stephanie pulled out her Vs. Seeker, checking for a message that it received for the seeker buzzed in her pocket.

Jason put his hands in his pockets and stared of into space. He started thinking of the journey ahead. He thought of the war with the rockets that was plaguing the land. He thought of his own family and how they got caught up in it. He thought of his own pokemon, how he raised them, how they fight, how they win, how they think. How his Haunter knew shadow ball…

_Wait Shadow Ball?_

Jason's train of thought was interrupted by a flash of light on the other side of the clearing. A ball of energy was charging among the trees. The purple ball was shot at frightening speed towards Stephanie whom was still reading the message sent to her in the Vs. seeker.

Jason leapt at her and brought her down on the ground, Stephanie's Vs. Seeker fell to the ground and shut off, the shadow ball barely clipped Jason's hair. Two hairs were absorbed into the ectoplasm.

Stephanie and Jason gathered their composure and stood up. Nina and Simon both looked around in anxiety as to where their assailant was.

"Oh well, we've missed, no use hiding now," a voice said.

Two Team Rocket Officers came out of the brush with red hair and blue hair respectively, both males in their late 30's. A Gengar was standing next to the blue haired one.

"What the hell was that for?!" Stephanie yelled.

"You snots have knowledge we want," the red haired one said pointing at them.

"And we will take it by force if necessary," the other said laughing. The Gengar laughed in unison.

"What would that be?" Nina asked.

The blue haired rocket pulled out Nina's pendent out of his pocket. "Where exactly you found _this_."

Nina swore under her breath.

"So who are you guys anyway?" Jason asked.

The two rockets looked at each other then cleared their throats.

The Red one started the dialogue, each one with a dramatic/corny pose to follow through with their phrases.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Chuck!"

"Norris!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight."

The Gengar cackled in response.

"So either gives us the information or we'll have to dispose of you," Chuck said.

"So what's it gonna be?" Norris said.

Gengar cried mockingly as 70 Rocket Grunts appeared from behind them. All of the grunts brandished various pokeballs and/or various melee weapons.

The area was silent as the rockets awaited the kids' response. The wind blew for a second, sending leaves past Jason's face.

He reached for some pokeballs out of his pocket.

"I'll show you what it's going to be!" he said confidently. He opened up all four balls and called their names as they appeared.

"Kangaskhan, Hitmonlee, Haunter, Houndoom!"

The four pokemon stood, or floated as was Haunter's case, battle ready.

Stephanie brought four of her own out and hid a smile.

_I can't be showed up by Jason now can't I?_

"Cyndaquil, Dratini, Raichu, Jigglypuff!"

Her four pokemon cried out confidently as they adopted fighting stances.

Simon took two off of his belt and called them forth.

"Bulbasaur, Pidgey!"

The two young pokemon appeared and looked around curiously before looking at their opponents seriously.

Nina pulled two off her belt as well. "You guys picked the wrong ones to mess with!"

She tossed her two balls forward.

"Charmeleon, Magmar!"

The two fire pokemon examined their claws and breathed a puff of fire before turning to the rockets fiercely.

Chuck pulled a pokeball off of his belt. "You had your chance. Our cause would be better off with miscreants like you wiped off the face of the earth," he said sternly.

"Muk!"

The slime pokemon appeared and growled menacingly in all of its oozing glory.

The seventy or so grunts behind them released a variety of mid-level pokemon ranging from: Koffing, Raticate, Machokes, Drowzees, Ekans, and various others.

Norris arrogantly felt his hand through his hair. "Charge!" he ordered.

The storm of grunts and pokemon ran towards them with weapons/fangs/fists/etc. at the ready.

Kangaskhan was the first one ready. She brought her large fist backwards and prepped an attack as a raticate ran up to her. Hitmonlee leapt from behind her and brought his foot down on the rat, sending to its stomach, then used it as a trampoline to leap into the fray. The machoke running behind the rat was even less fortunate. Kangaskhan was more then ready and brought the full force of her focused punch to its abdomen, sending it flying into the crowd. The poor fighting pokemon toppled into 5 grunts sending them to their backs on the ground incapacitated.

Raichu, was more then eager to enter the fray. It landed 3 successive hits with thunderpunch on an advancing drowzee.

Raichu then thunderbolted two assailants and moved on.

Charmeleon and Magmar both breathed fire into the crowd, steering some pokemon away, scorching those unfortunate enough to get in the way.

Bulbasaur both worked their side of the fight in unison, Pidgey would use gust to lift their opponent off the ground while Bulbasaur would bring its whips down on it hard, effectively knocking out the smaller ones. The larger ones would be stunned enough to be trampled by its allies.

Haunter cackled happily and joined the fray. It floated over a machoke and lifted it off the ground and threw it into the crowd, crushing a grunt under its weight.

Simon cheered as his pokemon duo dispatched a raticate. The duo then turned on an advancing ekans. The snake pokemon shot past the two and advanced towards Simon with an evil gleam in its eye, set for blood.

Simon froze in terror. He was never prepared for this, despite the warnings of Rocket warfare all over Kanto on the news. He became paralyzed with shock as the snake advanced on him. The ekans wrapped around his chest and brought Simon to the ground and hissed loudly with its fangs bared.

Jason, Nina, and Stephanie turned towards him in surprise as Simon was brought down.

Jason's Houndoom immediately did what was in its nature to do.

The hell-hound bounded towards the snake and leapt at it, growling fiercely. Houndoom landed on the snake and bit into the snake's neck. The snake pokemon cried out in pain. Houndoom gave it a flamethrower while grasping it with his neck. Ekans let go of Simon and tried to slither away. Houndoom was still latched on. He then forced the snake on its back. Houndoom let go and slashed the snake's neck with enough force to cut it open with its claws. The snake fell limp and Houndoom leapt off it and growled fiercely then turned to the advancing rockets, causing everyone to go silent.

The Rockets were more enraged by Houndoom's action. It was war now.

Two grunts ran at Hitmonlee with nightsticks drawn. Hitmonlee quickly punched one and kicked him aside then in one fluid motion: roundhouse kicked his other assailant.

Kangaskhan brought her tail upon a grunt trying to get past her to Jason. She brought her fist hard upon his head and he fell with a sickening crunch.

Haunter fired a shadow ball to take out to dispatch a grunt trying to head for Jason.

He dodged another shadow ball that was fired at him from above and looked up. Norris's gengar was flying at him at full speed with another shadow ball prepared. Haunter dodged that and flew upward bring a shadow punch towards it which Gengar barely dodged. The two pokemon began a battle in the air with various projectile attacks flying in all directions.

Jason soon entered the fray as well. One grunt tried to hit him with a metal staff and Jason uppercutted him in the gut, then pushed him backwards with his own staff. He used the same staff to trip another assailant. He heard a voice behind him and Jason brought the staff behind to strike at whoever it was. It was a bulky machoke. The fighting pokemon grasped the staff in both hands. The machoke tried to push Jason to the ground and Jason was locked in that struggle, slowly losing.

Houndoom tried to run to help Jason. He was intercepted by two grunts with futuristic tazer-like devices. Houndoom quickly lit one on fire with its flaming breath and had to dodge the tazer before he could get a shot in on the next one. Houndoom stayed just out of the reach, growling menacingly, waiting for an opening. Houndoom soon was triple teamed once two more grunts showed up with similar weapons.

Magmar and Charmeleon were breathing a stream of fire into the fray to try to thin the ranks of Team Rocket. Nina was following them as they went. One grunt managed to get around the fire and ran towards Nina. Nina spun around and kicked his arm aside with a powerful kick. As the grunt grasped his wrist, Nina leapt up and brought her foot to his face and brought him to the ground, stunned.

Stephanie was met by three grunts all fighting with their bare hands. All three of them ran at her.

One took a swing at her with a punch. She deftly dodged and grabbed the back of his neck and brought it downwards as she brought her knee upwards connecting with his jaw. She then threw him to the ground and awaited her opponents' next move. The second one ran at her. That one tried to grapple her. She ducked under his reach, picked him up, and threw him into a tree. She calmly awaited the third one's attack unflinchingly. As the last one went to attack her, Dratini wrapped itself around the man's leg. The grunt fell on his back. Stephanie calmly walked up to him and brought her heeled sandal to his neck, the guy croaked in agony and fell limp. If he wasn't dead, he would have wished he was when he woke up.

Raichu was running through the crowd, thunderpunching a grunt or pokemon and running away in the confusion. Raichu eventually ran into Chuck and his Muk and realized he was surrounded by grunts.

Raichu yelled out confidently and made a motion for Chuck to do his worst. Muk sloshed forward and shot a sludge bomb. Raichu deftly dodged and the projectile hit an unfortunate grunt.

Raichu stood on its tail and brought a magnificent thunder upon Muk. The Muk was then rendered unconscious by the sudden onslaught of electricity.

Chuck swore under his breath and brought Muk back to his ball.

Raichu teased him and adopted a fighting stance. Chuck swore, how could this rat be mocking him, he has four feet on Raichu.

As Chuck was about to rush at him Norris's Gengar fell out of the sky and landed on him, having been defeated by Haunter. Chuck fell to the ground under the weight. Chuck got out from under Gengar and rushed at Raichu. Raichu disappeared quickly and Chuck looked around surprised. He felt a sudden pain down below, Raichu thunderpunched him in the nuts. Chuck fell to the ground, delirious with pain. Two of the grunts brought him away.

The rest of the grunts ran at Raichu. Raichu smiled and stood on its tail and called to the skies and brought another thunder upon them all. After the smoke cleared, the grunts were all sprawled on the ground. Raichu wiped his brow and looked around for another target.

Norris sighed as he watched the battle from the rear of the group. He pointed to five grunts behind them.

"This has been delayed long enough, destroy them."

The five grunts pulled the same futuristic assault rifles they used earlier and loaded them.

They aimed into the fray towards their targets.

Before they could fire, a roar was heard from the sky. Those that weren't immediately engaged in fighting looked up to find its source.

Ed was flying in on Salamence. Salamence roared again as it swooped down on Norris's position. One of the grunts pointed his rifle and opened fire. Salamence flew to the right suddenly and unleashed its flamethrower attack upon the five grunts, engulfing them in flame. Salamence then swooped towards Norris and picked him up in his mouth. A raticate leapt up towards Ed. Ed quickly punched it aside. Salamence flew upwards and tossed Norris towards the ground. Norris hit a tree trunk and fell to the ground. Norris grasped his broken ribcage in pain and slowly limped his way back to the forest.

Ed tossed 5 pokeballs into the air and they all opened in a flash. The five pokemon fell to the ground: a Rhydon, a Gardevoir, a Manectric, a Blastoise, and a Machamp.

Gardevoir hovered towards the front of the fray and saw a grunt try to attack Simon with a club. Gardevoir moved her arms towards the grunt and her eyes flashed blue for a second and the grunt's chest visibly compressed and the grunt fell to the ground dead.

_Looks like we arrived just in time._ She said in open telepathy for everyone to hear.

Rhydon landed with a thud, sending any nearby grunts flying. He brought his tail down on five more that were nearby and took them out. Rhydon roared out loud to nearby rockets, they started to back away from it as Rhydon moved closer.

Manectric ran to help out Houndoom. One grunt turned around and brought its tazer upon Manectric, which turned out to be useless. Manectric shot a thunderbolt through it and electrocuted the grunt, sending him to the ground. Both grunts turned around and Manectric shot them both with thunderbolt and flamethrower respectively and both grunts fell to the ground dead.

Jason was down to his knees, trying to hold the machoke back. The staff finally broke and he fell on his back. Machamp landed a flying kick to the Machoke as he came down. Machoke stumbled backwards and tried to attack Machamp. Machoke karate chopped with his left hand but was caught by one of Machamp's arms. He tried to use the other hand as well but was caught in the same manner. Machamp laughed and brought a dynamic punch at point blank range to Machoke's face. The machoke fell to the ground like a puppet that got its strings cut.

Edward leapt off of Salamence and entered the fray. He was surrounded by four grunts. One had a metal staff that whistled as it was swung. He swung at Ed horizontally and ducked. He uppercutted the grunt in the chin and grabbed the staff. Ed pushed forward into the grunt's gut and ripped it out of his hands. Ed spun around and brought the staff to another grunt's torso, taking him out. He deftly tripped another that tried to rush him and brought the staff vertically to the center of his back, bringing him to the ground hard. He thrust the end of the staff to the torso of the one he got the staff from, sending him backwards. Another grunt tried to get Ed from behind. Ed deftly spun it around, forcing the grunt off of his feet. Ed spun it around and hit the back of the grunt's neck as he was in mid-air. The grunt was dead before he hit the ground.

Ed brought the staff down hard on the chest of the one he got it from, the grunt cried in pain and went unconscious.

Ed looked around and spun the staff in his hand. "I'm keeping this."

Ed heard a voice behind him and turned around. A grunt tried to bring a machete down on Ed. Ed leapt back but suddenly the grunt was tackled to the ground by Simon, the grunt's neck snapped as he fell. Simon stood up and brushed himself off.

"Nice to see you're still alive." Ed said sarcastically laughing.

"You're welcome." Simon said in the same tone while rolling his eyes.

On the other side of the battlefield, Jigglypuff was surrounded by three grunts. The oldest of them laughed, thinking that this little puff was no match for them.

Before he could stop laughing Jigglypuff leapt up and punched him in the face with a pound attack and he fell to the ground unconscious. The two grunts brandished their weapons when they saw their comrade fall. Jigglypuff quickly rolled across the ground with rollout attack and landed a hit square in the second one's torso, knocking him over. The third one swiped at Jigglypuff and missed as it puffed up its body to float above it. Jigglypuff slapped his face repeatedly until he fell down dizzy.

Blastoise landed in the same manner that his comrade Rhydon did. He readies his cannons and launched a stream of water at any standing rockets in the vicinity, mowing them down.

Any rocket that could stand at this moment broke into a retreat, leaving their fallen comrades and pokemon behind.

The victors and their pokemon all gathered around each other.

"Anyone hurt?" Edward asked.

"We all managed," Jason replied calmly.

"You made it bro!" Simon cheered.

"Who are you?" Stephanie asked.

Ed offered his hand.

"Edward Espenson," he said as Stephanie grasped his hand.

"Nina Eldier!" Nina said proudly introducing herself.

Gardevoir hovered forward.

_We have won today but they'll be back if we linger._ She said to them all.

The group nodded and called their pokemon back. All but Jason's Houndoom and the fire-hound lead them through the forest away from any dangers the rockets would have prepared in retaliation. On the way off the battlefield, Nina found her pendant by a tree. She picked it back up and ran to catch up with the others.


End file.
